I’m not a vegan, and can never be for my love of dairy is too great to abandon. In the recent year or so the Vegan movement seem to be taking over the planet for a moment -vegetarians, where are you?- and whenever I browse the social media account of a vegan I happen to come across one version or another of something they call “Nicecream” or “Nice Cream” and they keep raving about it the way they were raving about Read more »

For a while now almost every bookworm social media account I’m following was rearranging their collection of books in a colour-coded book theme so the end result would resemble a rainbow. I have an ancient photo of my bookshelves when I was a kid back in the early 90’s, my collection of some magazines were arranged Rainbow style but I have to look for the picture and scan it before I can share it with you, most likely in this post. Anyway, since my bookshelves are overflowing and organising the books in a readable manner became one messy affair, I thought I’d dedicate myself to this task and arrange all my books rainbow-style. After all, how hard can it be, right? Read more »

Fan of Mexican food? I absolutely am, in fact Mexican ranks second as my favourite cuisine of all times. Whenever I crave a fajita, a sizzling one with all the works, I usually head to one of the American franchises around Kuwait. However, since I’m trying to live a healthier life sans the excess salt, fat, and surprise spice that attacks my stomach mercileccily I began to make mine at home. This recipe must be the easiest, lightest, and quickest way to get a guiltless fajita fix. Read more »

The smell, the taste, the texture. I’m a vegetable loving vegetarian who actually does crave broccoli but never could stand to be within a metre of cauliflower in any shape or form including the very famous fried cauliflower and eggplant sandwich we call Meshakkal in Kuwait. Never was a fan. The same goes for sweet potatoes, I just could never understand their over-sweetened taste nor embrace it as a vegetable. Read more »

If you’ve been around my blog for a while then you’ll know how much I love and admire f2o’s artistic talent and designs, so much that my book cover is actually illustrated by f2o<3 Just before Ramadan was out and everyone ready to flock the country to their summer vacations Fatima Al-Othman, the lady behind f2o, sent me a bag of her latest products: colouring books, a current trend in its own, featuring f2o’s children, Essa and Asya, with the Alphabets in Kuwaiti dialect. Read more »

A few days back I was invited by Triangle restaurant to try their new and different menu. I like triangle a lot and have seen pictures of their “new” items so needless to say I made sure to go with a good hungry appetite knowing exactly what I wanted to try. Lets say I was not disappointed at all and I’m warning you, dangerous pictures are awaiting you below.

Lucky for me, I arrived on a Saturday during a lull in the lunch service. It was between lunch and dinner and so I had the place to myself and took as many pictures as I’ve liked without bothering other diners. By the time I got to my main course though, the restaurant had filled up and there was a waiting list! So if my colourful pictures make you want to have your next meal over at Triangle, make sure to call before you go to make sure there are available tables. Waiting list I tell you! Read more »

I’m writing this post with a head buzzing with thoughts, heart fluttering with feelings, and eyes brimming with tears as I’m in a roller coaster of emotions that’s been tumbling since I returned home from work and sat with my iBook copy of the long awaited 8th book of Harry Potter, the one with the Cursed Child.

Is it really an 8th book? A proper sequel to the battle of Hogwarts set 19 years later? I couldn’t allow myself to get too attached the the book nor let myself believe it was a “real” or “100% authentic” new Harry Potter book. I was afraid. I didn’t want to be let down by it, I know its based on a sold out play and its not only J. K. Rowling’s name on the cover, I’m not sure what to expect and I had a feeling that… well.. this story is only make belief and this Harry book is a fraud. Read more »

Yes, the title is correct. This post and these pictures are telling the story of an Indian Alphonso mango tree, planted in a farm in Wafra area on the soil of Kuwait. The tree felt at home enough to bear not only regular Alphonso mangoes, no no, JUMBO alphonso mango fruits and there were enough of them to make it into a carton and arrive at my doorsteps about ten days ago! Read more »

I’ve been bored by, well everything really. Do you ever seem to think that everything in life is the same? Same activities, same faces, same places, same routine, same old and nothing is new happening anymore?

Enter the key hunt for the By Parker’s restaurant!

You see, there is something about having to earn your entry into a new food establishment. I recall once reading something like that in a magazine about a spot in a trendy hipster part of London, that unless you answer the gatekeeper’s riddle you won’t be allowed to climb through the wall into the restaurant or something. I loved the intrigue, the being there but out of reach except for the worthy kind of attitude. Of course its also fun, that’s why I’ve been following the SnapChat of by Parker’s in Dubai forever and deciding that the moment I set foot in Dubai, on the very night I do, I’m not going to rest until I do hunt for the key and actually claim it for myself. Read more »

Whenever I want a palate-clenasing from all the disappointing or long boring reads I make sure I reach out for a Cecelia Ahern, I could always count on her for a wholesome and enjoyable read and her latest novel, The Marble Collector, didn’t disappoint me at all. It was an easy read, didn’t take a lot of effort to read or digest, and had enough intrigue between the pages to keep me flipping the pages at a quicker page than usual. Read more »

For a while now I’ve been wanting to introduce you to two gorgeously cute individuals that I’m quite fond of. Those of you who have pets can relate to my state of adoration of my, well, nephews, Elsa and Olaf and no I’m not talking about the Disney characters here -they are named after them though, obviously!-. Elsa & Olaf are my brother and sister’s cats, they’ve had them ever since they were two tiny kittens and they are wrench-your-heart and pinch-that-cheek and bite-that-teeny-leg adorable! Read more »

Me? Believe it or not its cartoons! Anime to be exact, the Japanese ones that we grew up watching. Whenever they gather around a dining table, those glittering dishes, specifically those steaming bowls of soups with a side of little bread. I was always hungry after watching an episode with food, and don’t get me started on Ninja Kabamaro’s chowmein insatiable appetite! Read more »

This is not a recipe per say, its just a salad I tossed together because I didn’t want the fruits in my fridge to go bad and added a few bits and pieces there. Salad, especially with berries, is more of a summer or spring dish than winter which you’d want to keep warm in with a chunky vegetables soup and crunchy pieces of bread. Perhaps some melted cheese and rubbed garlic on that bread. Mmm… in any case, I don’t mind salads in the winter at all and this berries and pear salad with warm cheese and warm caramelised nuts would add a bit of colour to those grey afternoons. Read more »

My friend and fellow blogger Ansam has been busy lately. A couple of weeks ago she finally was going to share her love of food with the rest of us with the launch of “Karak Gholam”, Kuwait’s newest Karak cafe where Ansam is a co-owner. Karak is a drink that’s basically tea, milk, sugar, and Indian spices cooked together. Rather, its the equivalent of a spiced chai latte and I’m not sure if Karak is the official Indian name for it but its been forever popular in neighbouring GCC countries like Qatar and the UAE and is currently taking Kuwait by storm. Read more »

I think it was back during the holy month of Ramadan when I first started following the instagram account of GIA cafe. They were testing their dishes and I knew by looking at what they had to offer that I wanted to try them out, really wanted to, for they reminded me of Ottelenghi’s in London. After a long wait, they finally opened their doors yesterday afternoon and I wasted no time heading over to GIA’s for some lunch. Read more »

I’m a big fan of Salad Boutique, always been and always will. I’ve ordered their salads on many occasions before, either to take with me for a gathering or to simplify salad making for gatherings held at my place. I don’t usually order them for my own meals though since the portion is too big and it takes me several days to finish one salad which ends up old and wilted, and wilted salads are not that fun per-say. I always wondered why they don’t introduce individual portion salads suitable for one person and they didn’t until last week when they launched their new corporate solution menu. Read more »

As September is drawing to a close I sit back and wonder how fast will it feel before we celebrate 2014? I didn’t care much for how 2013 turned out so far but I suppose there is still hope that the last quarter would make up for it. Speaking of which, I came upon something, a discovery if you may, when I was talking to a “friend” a few weeks back that got me pondering the matter of trying to save a bit of money from your income and the response I got from the friend, as if I had grown two heads and began spitting fire like a dragon, left me dumbfounded to say the least. Read more »

Back in June I managed to visit the very last Shakshooka pop-up farmers market before the start of summer and I fell in love with everything shakshooka! The concept, the carefree spirit, the mystery of waiting for the next market and not knowing where it’s going to be until just before it happens, and most importantly the food items you could buy: all organic, healthy, natural, and delicious! Then summer came and went and fall arrived, bringing the Shakshooka market back! Read more »

Ever since I began cooking quinoa I really wanted to use it with one particular dish, maraq bamiya (okra stew). You see, if quinoa passes the maraq bamiya test, it can reside their proudly on my pantry for the rest of time, banishing every last morsel of rice from the premises. The dieticians in Kuwait have been urging us to replace rice with quinoa and I already tried that twice with the quinoa mushroom risotto and the quinoa with dill & broad beans (bajela w shbent) and both time quinoa posed as the perfect protein-packed fiber-laden replacement to white rice therefore I Read more »

Lately I’ve been doing nothing but trying to concentrate on making my diet work and trying to stick to a healthy life style, therefore you will be seeing a few more diet food related posts every now and then on my blog. Earlier this week, I’ve seen Ansam cooking a dish on instagram using quinoa bread she got from J’s Bakery. Read more »

Since I’ve been having quinoa, almost on daily basis, for the past few weeks I always am on the look for new ways of eating it. My favourite quinoa dishes are almost always salads and this one, with grilled bell peppers a.k.a. capsicums. On the day I took these pictures I only had some yellow bell peppers in the fridge but my absolute favourites are grilled red bell peppers. Read more »

Last week was the opening diner, a new burger place in Kuwait City and the newest addition to the thriving and already saturated burger scene in town. Why would I go to another burger place? Because they are the first in Kuwait to serve the Ramen Burger, the latest burger craze that took NYC by a storm, replacing the bun with Ramen noodles.

I’ve always heard that the exhibitions that are held in the UAE were spectacular and amount of effort that goes into those expos was unparalleled. I’ve never had the chance to go to an expo in Dubai before but while I was visiting this past Eid holiday I learned from the instagram account of fellow blogger Karamillah from the Abu Dhabi, that her cookie business, K’s Cookies, will be participating in a Ramadan Night Market expo in Dubai and I knew I had to pass by and check it out. Read more »

Growing up, rice with broad beans & dill or what we call in Kuwait “Bajela w Shbent” was a favourite lunch dish of mine. It is traditionally made with chunks of meat and daqqos tomato sauce at home but I’ve always opted to mix it with low fat yoghurt instead. I was craving it the other day but since I’m still on the path of losing the Ramadan weight and testing out quinoa in recipes I’ve decided to make the dish, subsituting rice with quinoa and see how it would turn out. To my surprise the recipe turned out to be a success and had I not made the dish myself I wouldn’t have realised I was actually eating quinoa! Read more »